6 Months
by Artist 13
Summary: GGO comes out in the year 2023, in the middle of the SAO incident. Zaskar uses the argument that the amosphere makes GGO completely safe, and is green lit. 2 months later, Sinon has joined the game, tagging along with a group of PKers. All is normal in the first 6 months of gameplay, until she meets someone, someone she will have to learn to work with if she wishes to remain alive.
1. Three Pounds of Pressure

Collaboration with my good friend Riddean Rize

(Please read or you will be confused as hell)

Truthfully I just wanted to write a story of my own centered around GGO, as that is my favorite arc in the entire show of SAO and I greatly enjoyed it, but because it isn't clear when GGO was released, the time between when Sinon joined and Kirito joined is presumably very small, so I decided to expand that time, by having GGO come out during the SAO incident, and it kind of makes sense since the developer is American and I could totally see them ignoring what's happening in Japan, using the excuse that they now have the amosphere, making it completely safe. However GGO doesn't really pick up speed until SAO is cleared, which means players like XeXeed and Death Gun are yet to exist, and the Japanese server is yet to be created, which means this entire story takes place on the American server. If you have any questions please feel free to ask in the comments and I will message you an explanation.

 **Chapter 1 – Three Pounds of Pressure**

Three pounds of pressure. That's all it takes…just three. Looking through the scope, I was zeroing in on my target. He won't see the first bullet line. Two thousand meters. I carefully adjusted my scope for the range. The bluish green circle constantly expanding then collapsing. I breathed deep, slowing my heart rate. The circle got smaller and strobed slower.

"Whenever you're ready" A voice said into my ear piece.

I slowly began to pull the trigger. One pound, two… Right when the circle became its smallest on the targets head, I applied the last pound of pressure. A loud shot rang out, the shockwave from the shot blowing back my hair slightly. A second went by before the target looked towards the noise, his eyes widened as he saw the speeding projectile inches from his face. There was nothing he could do as the bullet took off his entire head. The rest of his body falling to its knees before collapsing completely and the death animation took over. Quickly, the rest of his group took cover, but mine had already flanked around them. I pulled back the bolt of Hecate, allowing the shell of the previous bullet to fly out before pushing it back in, allowing for a new round to chamber. I quickly lined up another shot on my next victim. He was facing the direction my team came from, so he was an easy target. I lined up my sights with his back, slowly creeping up his spine until my crosshairs had found their final resting place on the back of his head. He wouldn't even know where the bullet came from. I breathed in and out slowly again, waiting for the precise moment to fire. Once the circle had reached its smallest size, I applied another three pounds. The recoil knocking back my shoulder slightly. When I first acquired this gun, I couldn't control the recoil at all. But after adding a better stock, and a bipod, I quickly adapted, however I still can't accurately fire Hecate standing up. Before the bullet had even reached my target, I had already cocked the bolt of Hecate and was lining up another shot. The moment my target fell victim to the death animation, the rest of the team started scanning the abandoned and destroyed skyscrapers in my direction. With my team pushing them from the back, they had forgotten about my presence. As I began to line up a third shot, the sound of nearing footsteps had broken my focus. I pulled away from my scope and put my hand on my pistol, ready to quickly pull it from its holster and open fire on whoever tried to kill me. My position was inside one of the many collapsed skyscrapers in this city. It tilted slightly and the bottom four floors were buried in the sand. I was on the eighteenth floor, it only went up to 20. It originally had 40, as the elevator buttons suggested, but the other half was mysteriously missing. We had decided to ambush this group in the city district of the desert. It was an infamous trade route that large merchant caravans came through often. Like the one we currently were assaulting. Due to the numerous amount of buildings, it'd be easy for a target to peel off unnoticed and flank me. The thing is, the nearing footsteps weren't trying to sneak up at all, and were just casually walking up the stairs of the building. I quickly pulled out my Glock and moved to the opposite corner of the stair case and aimed at the entrance, waiting to pull the trigger the moment the intruder walked in. The footsteps got closer and closer, then suddenly stopped. I could see the shadow projecting onto the wall of the stairwell. I remained as I was, and kept my aim concentrated at the entrance of the staircase. A hand slowly stuck out from the stairs, and right into my aim. He quickly pulled away his hand as he saw the bullet line. I was a second too late, I already pulled the trigger. The sound echoed for a few seconds, then I heard a familiar voice.

"A Glock 18. When'd you replace your MP7?"

I grinned and holstered my weapon "Today actually. Finally decide to join us?"

He stepped out of the staircase, fully revealing himself. France. Our sniper. Well, secondary sniper that is. He was a STR DEX build, but still had an amazingly high AGI and carried the name as one of the fastest snipers in the game, although it was still a mystery as to how, considering the amount of gear he carried with him. Unlike most snipers he carried two primaries and a rather robust side arm. His long range weapon was a M107 Barret .50 caliber sniper rifle that he carried two, ten round magazines for. .50 cals are great and all, considering they can one shot just about everything, but the problem with them is they are incredibly cumbersome, and you need a very high strength skill to use them. Not to mention the price of ammo. Even after all those flaws, I continue to use a .50 caliber round for Hecate. His weapon of choice, however, was a M14 with a M21 configuration. In other words, it's basically a mid-range sniper rifle firing 7.62 full metal jacket rounds. That's not the only thing that makes it so gnarly, but it can also be converted to an assault rifle if he needs to. In its M21 format, it consists of a silencer, a hybrid scope that gives him three times zoom when engaged, a magnifier he can attach to that to give him twice the zoom, adding to the guns range stat, and a bipod. He carries four, twenty round FMJ mags for it, the ones he most often uses, and two, forty round holopoint mags. When in tight situations, he can simply disengage the hybrid scope, revealing a holographic EO tech, pop in one of his forty rounds mags, and set his gun to full auto. Not only that, he carries one of the most wicked side arms in the game, a .50 caliber magnum express Desert Eagle. It's a two shot kill above the waist. The only problem with it is its only useful for close range, and it can only hold 7 rounds. He carries an extra, but that's still only fourteen at his disposal, but as a sniper you don't use your pistol that often. For the most part he stays about fifty to a hundred yards away from the battle, picking off targets with his M21, although when it is needed, he can take out targets up to a mile away. His armor was rather odd however. He wore a tannish grey hooded raggedy torn up poncho that was torn at the waist, creating a upside down triangular shape that stopped halfway down his femur, and simple light black combat pants and had a white cloth that wrapped the length of his arms. He always wore his hood along with a cloth of matching color to the cloth covering him that covered everything from his nose down, and was tucked into the neck. His top was labeled as "Desert Ghillie Suit", and he wore it like one, often burying his legs into the sand and blending in with it, so his targets had no idea where they were being shot from. It looked cool enough, but the problem with it was that it provided no protection at all. Most likely he wore some armor under it, but that would slow him down. He was one of the fastest in our group, and even I wear really light armor and all I carry is my Hecate II along with six mags and two extended mags for my Glock, and he was still faster than me. He was arguably the most skilled in our group, being able to quickly adapt to whatever situation we were in, not to mention his accuracy gauge is at eighty nine percent. Mine is ninety seven, but he's been playing longer than I have, and he's a mid-range sniper, which is a harder job than long distance, as he is often under fire, due to him not being far from the battle.

"I actually have, mind if I set up next to you?"

"Be my guest"

With that he quickly took off his Barret, engaged the bipod, and went prone next to Hecate. I joined him shortly after.

"Looks like there's just a few left" He said before breathing in slowly, and pulling the trigger.

I aimed down my scope just in time to see his target fall.

"Yep" I said as I took aim at another. "There was about twenty"

There was only nine now. I breathed slowly and took the shot. Unfortunately I wasn't so lucky, and he moved the moment I pulled the trigger. He would now be able to see the bullet line when I aimed at him again.

"France, green jacket, optical assault rifle, spikey hair, goggles"

"Yeah I got him"

He then pulled the trigger and the character I had called out dropped.

I cocked Hecate, but when I aimed down the sights again, the remaining survivors had retreated into a nearby building.

I then heard Dyne, our leader, speak over coms.

"Hey Sinon, come down here we have a bit of a situation"

"Got it, be down in a bit"

"Looks like those cowards are retreating" France spoke

"It appears so." I stood up and brushed the dirt off of my combat gear "come on, the boss wants us to go down there"

France nodded, gabbed his M21 which he had laid on the floor, and stood, putting his sniper on his back, barrel facing upwards with the sling crossing his chest. I did the same and proceeded down the staircase.

At the fifth floor is where the sand stopped, so there was a forty foot dune we had to slide down. I stood over it, thinking about how I'd get down before I was shoved from behind and fell face first in the sand, resulting in me sliding all the way down to the sound of hysterical laughter. Once I came to a halt I pushed myself off the ground and flipped off my partner still located at the fifth floor. He quickly jumped half way down and jumped again landing next to me.

"Such an ugly gesture for such a pretty girl" He chuckled

"Not everyone has max AGI asshole" I said harshly

"Actually, none of my skills are maxed. I just have a really high strength, dexterity, and agility skill."

"Whatever"

"Awe come on, it was fun and you know it" He nudged me on the shoulder

His teasing, like always, had me smiling reluctantly

"See? You're smiling"

I looked down in hopes that he wouldn't notice my smile growing bigger.

I had known France for quite a while now, ever since I first started playing actually. I was doing a quest by myself, and I didn't have many friends at the time so I couldn't call on them for help, but a group of bandits attacked me. One was about to shoot me in the head when all of them dropped dead in an instant. A few seconds later, he appeared, uninterested in me, and looting the ones he had just killed. He started to walk away before I called to him, and asked for his help. He said he had nothing better to do, and agreed. That was six months ago. That's how long I've known him. Six months. We've always been playful towards each other, constantly teasing one another. It wasn't until recently when he and I joined up with Dyne and his group. We had decided boss hunting had gotten boring, and we were searching for something more challenging, and joining a PKing group sounded like an amazing idea, as players are a lot more unpredictable and smarter than mobs. PKing was what France did before meeting me, he was a mercenary for hire, and was one of the best, he even won the first ever Bullet of Bullets, although he seems uninterested in the second one. I however, am going to not only join, but win the second BoB, no matter what. It's the only way I can get stronger. That's all I really want, to become stronger, to finally be able to hold a gun again, to finally be able to live happily again.

I must've looked off, because France was quick to question

"You alright there kiddo?"

I quickly regained focus "Yeah I'm fine, and don't call me kiddo you're only a year older than me"

"Yeah but I'm way taller than you"

I opened my mouth, but then closed it, as I didn't really have a comeback

He then smiled from what I could tell, and rustled my hair "That's what I thought"

When we got to Dyne, the others had already regrouped.

"France, nice of you to join us" Dyne spoke

France simply nodded.

I don't know why but France never seemed to talk to the others as much as me, and was a lot more quite around them.

"So what seems to be the situation" I asked curiously

He shifted his gaze to me "Well you see, the remaining nine players have retreated into the first floor of this here building" He gestured to the one next to him "And it would seem at least four of them have shotguns, we've already Ginrou and Miso trying to go in there"

I nodded "So what's your plan?"

"Well, I was originally going to see if you could get an angle out of a window from the building across the street, but now that France is here, I say we just rush them"

"Yeah alright, I'm down, France you take point"

He nodded and then threw his M21 over his shoulder and pulled out his Desert Eagle. It was a truly awesome gun, the shiny silvery finish and the matte black grips he had on it made it look like a weapon of high class, when in reality it wasn't that rare, most players just don't have the dexterity to properly wield it.

France stood in front of the entrance, Dyne behind him with his left hand on his shoulder and his other on his gun, I stood similarly, holding my Glock in my right hand with my left on Dyne's shoulder. I looked down at my Glock and set the selector switch to full auto.

France then spoke "Someone throw in a smoke, Dyne and Sinon, wait till I move"

"Got ya" Dyne spoke, and I confirmed with a positive grunt.

I looked to my right and saw one of our comrades taking a smoke grenade off of his combat belt. He pulled off the silver ring, and waited a couple of seconds for the grey hazy substance to come out. Once it had really started to puff, he through it in.

I started breathing deeply through my nose and out through my mouth, slowing my heart rate and increasing my accuracy. After what felt like hours, France finally dashed in. We had already began to hear the loud cracks of the .50 caliber pistol before Dyne was even half way in. Soon enough I was surrounded by the grey smoke, and moved against a wall to regain my positon. I continued to hear the loud shots of the Desert Eagle, and began to hear Dyne's own gun going off, followed by some shouting and a few death animations.

I heard shots coming from above, and quickly hopped up onto the platform it was coming from. Before he even knew I was there, I had unloaded half of my mag into his stomach. He then fell to his knees and was followed by the death animation. I quickly scanned around the room to spot more enemies. There was one left, taking aim at Dyne's back. I quickly aimed my pistol, resetting it to semi auto. In one swift motion, I took aim and fired before he even registered the bullet line. France wasn't the only one with a trick up his sleeve, as I had earned the title of the best pistol wielder in our group.

When the smoke had cleared, the entire group was dead. I holstered my pistol, and looked across the room to see Dyne observing the room, making sure we really did kill everyone. Once he had finished his observation, he looked at me and grinned.

I also took a quick observation of my own. What we had just fought in, it looked like a lobby, like to a bank or something. There was two elevators behind the desk that I stood next to, and a stair case that took you to the upper platform I was standing on. There was a fountain in the middle, but it was destroyed, and there was roots and fungus crowing out of it. Along with destroying the fountain, vegetation seem to have torn up a lot of the floor and walls, making it difficult to balance, I don't know how I managed to not trip in the smoke. After observing, I hopped down the platform and made my way outside. Because it was dark in the building, I had to shield my eyes from the blazing sun momentarily before I could adjust. When I lowered my arm, I was greeted by the grinning faces of my group. The two we had lost, had seemingly respawned and rejoined us. We didn't have that many people, but we still worked really well together, well sort of. First there was Jin, our smartass, he takes every opportunity he can no matter what it is. Shoot first, ask questions in Hell. Then there was Miso. He was our fastest player by far, and he definitely used that advantage. However such a high AGI left him very low on hit points, and was usually the first to die. Then there was Arashi. For the most part, he hung back and covered France who would be sniping. Because he has a FN FAL, and a rather high DEX, he was perfect for the job. Apparently he was originally their mid-range sniper, until France came along. And then there was Ginrou. The least professional. He could bark harder than he could bite, and his arrogance and cockiness tended to get him killed. Not to mention he never learns his lesson, and never follows orders, making him unbearably annoying.

"So, how'd it go doll face?" Ginrou asked, grinning even more

"It was fine, then you showed up"

"Oh come on, you know you love me"

"I doubt even your mother loves you" Jin spoke, causing the others to laugh

"Hey you wanna shut the fuck up pal?" Ginrou countered

"Lemme think..." He then looked up and put hand on his chin, making it look like he was thinking deeply "Nah"

Ginrou's response was flipping him the middle finger.

I then heard the sand crunching behind me, and turned around to see Dyne, carrying his assault rifle. His rifle was an interesting one, and was rather rare. It was a SIG SG550 that fired 5.56 rounds, a small but amazingly fast round.

"Alright you two knock it off. I swear I can't turn my back for five seconds without you butting heads with someone Ginrou." He spoke with authority in his voice. "Let's hurry up and get their stuff before they respawn and head back over to us."

I heard a collected "right" from my comrades behind me, followed by the shuffling of feet.

"Hey Dyne" I asked

He turned his eyes towards me "Yeah Sinon?"

"Where's France?" He was still in our party, and hadn't died. His name was still in the top left of my heads up display, and he had full health.

"Didn't he come out here with you guys?"

I shook my head.

"Hmm…"

"Hey! Come on man let me go!" An unfamiliar distressed voice came from inside the building we had just cleared.

Out of the darkness of the door way emerged France, dragging someone by the legs behind him. He was hogtied, with his arms tied behind his back and his legs bound together.

He was rather short, being about 5'4 or so, and didn't wear any combat gear. He had basic hiking boots, along with blue jeans, and a red winter jacket with a black vest with a bunch of pockets overflowing with all sorts of things, bullets, herbs, grenades, magazines. He wore an old fashioned pilot cap, with the goggles resting on us forehead and the light brown leather cap covering his hair. I concluded that he was the merchant being protected.

We all looked up from the merchant, to France, who was holding a M1911. France then tossed the 1911 to Dyne, who caught it and quickly examined it, before tucking it into his trench coat.

"Let him stand France, but if he tries to run, don't hesitate putting a bullet into his head.

France nodded, and pulled the knife he kept in his boot out, and sliced the binding both on his hands, and feet.

After sheathing his knife, France pulled his M21 off of his shoulder, and held it, ready to shoot.

"Sorry for such a rude introduction, I'm Dyne, pleasure to meet you mister…?"

The man was on his knees, rubbing his wrists where the ropes were tied.

He looked up at Dyne and responded harshly "piss off"

This was greeted by France's foot in the back of his head, shoving his face into the sand

"Well nice to meet you mister piss off, hope you don't mind, but we'll just be taking everything you have, and then we'll be on our way.

"You aint getting shit" The man spoke, his voice almost inaudible due to having his face pressed into the sand

"Well that's a rather rude way to treat your guess, perhaps our friend France could show you how to be pilot. France?" He gestured casually with his hands, signaling to take his things

France pulled him to his feet and began taking everything out of the man's vest pockets, and throwing them to Dyne.

"Where's the rest of your caravan? There's no way this is all you have" Dyne said, as he was examining all the supplies France had searched.

It looked like there was about five hundred 5.56 rounds, fifty .50 caliber rounds, a hundred 7.62s, about a thousand 9mm rounds, fifteen frag grenades, and ten flashbangs.

"I'll tell you, as soon as you go fuck yourself"

Dyne simply sighed "Either way we're going to find the rest of your caravan, so better just tell us now."

"Or what?"

Suddenly a loud crack was heard, and the merchant fell over and was consumed by the death animation.

We all looked at where the shot had come from and saw Ginrou aiming his UMP exactly where the merchant was just standing. He looked at everyone staring at him and smiled

"What? He was getting annoying and it was obvious he wasn't going to tell us wear his caravan was"

I covered my face with my hand. Ginrou was just so stupid sometimes

"God damnit Ginrou we could've forced him to talk! We have no idea where his caravan is and we don't even know where it could be!" Dyne yelled infuriated

Ginrou simply shrugged

Dyne grunted angrily and then announced that he was going to go sell all the items we had looted that we didn't need, like flashlights and weapons we don't need or want. The rest was to be decided up to us. He also mentioned that after he was done, he was going to log off, so we were free to do as we pleased.

After Dyne had teleported away, the remaining six of us began to rummage through what was left. Dyne preferred to take all the money we found, excluding the money he attained by selling items we agreed were useless, that money was split between the seven of us equally, and with Dyne collecting all the money from the players we killed, we were free to take whatever we wanted.

I already had basically everything I needed, so I just took about two hundred 9mm rounds and half of the .50 caliber rounds, the other half going to France.

After reloading all of my mags and storing the ammunition I took, I began to head to town to logout when I was stopped by Ginrou

"Where you going doll face?" He asked with a smug smile on his face

"Away from you" I countered, getting a chuckle the other four

"Why you gotta be such a bitch all the time? You gotta stop being so tight, if you're not doing anything later I could help you 'loosen up'" He then winked and grinned dirtily

"Not even in a video game" I retorted, and then turned to walk away when I was suddenly yanked down from behind and pinned on the ground.

It took me only a second to register the face of Ginrou directly above me

I struggled to move, but his grip on me was too tight

"You know you should start showing me a little more god damn respect or else I'm gonna have to start hurti-"

Ginrou was cut off mid-sentence as a bullet went through the side of his head. His body collapsed onto mine before it was taken by the death animation

I looked at where the sound coming from and saw France holstering his pistol. He then looked up at us and said in a tone mocking that of Ginrou's

"What? He was getting annoying and it was obvious he wasn't going to shut up"

The others started laughing and I grinned. He then walked over to me and held out his hand.

I grabbed it and was quickly pulled off the ground.

"Thanks" I said, thankful France was there

"Anytime"

"I'm gonna go into town and logout alright? See you tomorrow"

"Yeah, see ya" And he did a small wave

I then opened my menu and selected the town that my house was located in, and selected fast travel.

I was quickly teleported to the city of SBC Glocken, the destroyed battle cruiser. Glocken was basically the center of GGO, it was the biggest city in the game and is full of all sorts of shops and what not. BoB even takes place in this very city. But I didn't come here to admire the sights. I quickly walked to the western residence district and found my shabby house. Although I could afford a much better house, I really didn't see the point in it, it's just a video game and I'd just be wasting my money, if it works it works.

I opened the door and found my way into my room. I laid down on my bed, opened my menu, and logged out.

I opened my eyes and found myself on my real bed. I waited a couple seconds for my eyes to adjust to the new light, and removed the amosphere from my head, and put it down on the night stand next to my bed.

I took in a deep breath and then exhaled "What a day"


	2. Red Inc

Before this continues any further, I'd like to state that after re-reading chapter one myself, I came to a realization that it is very easy to mistake France as an over glorified version of myself. France is not supposed to be an interpretation of me at all, and this story isn't just me rewriting SAO with myself projected into it. Thank you for your time.

 **Chapter 2 – Red Inc.**

There was a gun in my hand. I looked down to see the shell jammed in the slide. My hands were covered in blood. I looked up and saw a man, the one I'd just shot. The only emotion on his face being pain. Two steams of blood ran down his face, starting at his forehead. He stared at me a good five seconds before he collapsed. I looked over at my mother, who was also on the ground. She was staring directly at me, in total shock and awe. I then heard the man I had just killed stir. I looked over in the direction I had seen him last, and he was suddenly inches from my face, a crazed look on his face as the blood gathered together and trickled from his chin to my legs, adding to the blood I had already accumulated. I wanted to scream, to run, but I was too scared to either, so I just stared into the man's eyes.

Suddenly I came back to reality. It was dark in my room. The moon was gone, but the sun was yet to rise, creating a darkness that was, well, darker than usual. The sheets of my bed were thrown off, and I wasn't wearing any pants, causing me to slightly shiver. I sat up and examined the details of my room before turning to look at the alarm clock. It was 5:15 in the morning. I could try to go back to sleep, but there really wasn't much of a point, as once I was awake, I was awake, no matter how much sleep I've had. I mean it was good sometimes, but just because I couldn't sleep doesn't mean I wasn't tired.

After pondering what to do, I decided to text my friend Kyouji, the one that got me into GGO. He was probably my only true real friend I had. He was sweet for the most part, but sometimes he could be clingy. I guess we all have our flaws, including me.

I looked down at my phone and pressed the home button to turn it on, and swiped to the right to unlock it. I didn't have a password, because I never let anyone use my phone anyway, so I don't see a point in it. I tapped on the little contact icon and quickly scrolled down to the K letter of my contacts. I tapped on Kyouji's contact and selected the "Send Message" option.

'Hey, you up?' I looked over the sentence briefly before pressing the send option.

I knew he wasn't going to respond right away, so I took the buffering time I had to get ready for the day. It was Sunday, which meant I had to go shopping for food and water and what not.

I walked into my cramped bathroom and turned on the light switch. I looked myself over. My white button up shirt was wrinkled and my hair was messy. I needed a shower. I walked out of the bathroom, unbuttoned my shirt, and lazily through it in my laundry basket.

I then grabbed my phone to see if Kyouji had replied. Sure enough, he did.

'Yeah, another early morning walk?' was what the text read

'Yeah, I mean only if you're not busy, if you're not be at my place in twenty minutes'

I threw my phone back on my bed and removed the rest of my clothing and threw it in the laundry basket with the same lazy fashion I had thrown my shirt with.

I walked back into the bathroom and looked myself over in the mirror once again before turning on the shower. I played with the knob a few moments before finally getting the water to the right temperature, and stepped in, the warm sensation of the water quickly took over my entire body, and warmed me up.

After my shower I stepped back into room and quickly checked my phone. Kyouji had replied with a simple 'Ok, I'll be there'.

I then walked to the small dresser I kept in my room, next to the zip up closet I used to keep my scarves and jackets in, and picked out a new pair of underwear. After I had that on, I grabbed the first shirt and pair of pants I saw and put them on. There was a knock on my door. I looked myself over one last time. I had a very basic outfit on, really. Just a black long sleeve shirt and jeans. I shrugged and grabbed my glasses on the night stand and approached my front door. I looked through the little eyehole to confirm it was Kyouji. It was. I unlocked the chain lock and opened the door to stick my head out.

"Morning" Kyouji spoke in his soft voice

"Morning, let me just tie my hair and grab a jacket and I'll be out in a sec ok?"

"Alright"

I shut the door softly and hurried into the bathroom. I grabbed the loose lock of hair on the right side of my cheek and tied it together with one of the ribbons I had on the counter, and repeated the process to the other side. I then went to my coat closet and grabbed a simple grey hoodie and put it on, then hurried back to the door.

I opened it and stepped outside, then shut and locked the door behind me.

I breathed in the morning air and then looked at Kyouji.

He was wearing his usual outfit, a dark yellow nylon jacket, jeans, and a black baseball cap. He never seemed to wear something different.

"Well, let's get going"

He nodded

We walked all over town. First he took me to a coffee shop that is open twenty four hours, where we got some much needed caffeine. After that we decided to walk to the park and wait a bit for all the stores to open, as he had agreed in helping me shop. By the time we finally got back to my place, it was 10:52. I quickly punched in the combination on the dial pad of my door, and heard the familiar click as I pressed enter. I turned the door handle and casually opened the door, and held it open so Kyouji could come in, as he had a few bags himself.

I set down the bags on the small kitchen counter I had in the first room of my apartment, and instructed Kyouji to do the same. After we had put everything away, we sat at the small coffee table I had in my room, sipping at tea we had gotten not too long ago.

"So" He spoke "Got any plans in GGO today?"

I shrugged "I don't think so, Dyne said the next assignment isn't until Thursday."

I looked at the digital clock in the microwave. Sunday, 11:04 AM.

"How'd the last job go?"

I shrugged once again "Alright I guess, would've gone better if Ginrou could just keep his mouth shut and his gun pointed down.

Kyouji smiled "He still flirt with you on the job?"

I nodded, causing Kyouji's smile to elongate as he sipped his tea

"What's so funny?' I questioned curiously

"Oh nothing…" He paused as he took a large gulp from the cup, finishing it entirely "I just think you guy's would make a cute couple"

I practically choked on my tea and playfully punched Kyouji's arm, causing him to chuckle

"What? I'm serious, think about it, you and Ginrou…sleeping together"

I kicked his knee "The day that happens is the day they make a VR that you can fly in"

He then broke out into total laughter "I mean, he's not that bad" He said after catching his breath

"I'd rather play a game about magical fairies for the rest of my life than be with him"

"Be careful what you wish for" He said in a careful tone

I rolled my eyes "Whatever"

My phone buzzed, signaling a text message. I pulled it out of my pocket to read what it said. It was from France. I know it's not a good idea to give others your phone number on a game, but I trusted him enough, and I doubt he could find me with just my phone number.

The text read 'You should get on GGO, we have a bit of a situation'

"Something come up?" Kyouji asked

I looked up from my phone unto him "Yeah, apparently something is going down in GGO."

"Well, you should probably get on" He stood up, stretching his back and legs "This morning was fun, we should do it again sometime" He then turned and began to walk out

"We should, cya later Kyouji"

He did a simple wave as he opened my apartment door and walked out. After the door was fully closed, I walked over to it and locked the chain lock, then laid down on my bed.

I took off my glasses and traded places with the amosphere, carefully folding my glasses and setting them down in the place the amosphere once was. After that, I opened the amosphere and slipped it over my head. I closed my eyes and felt around for the power button, which took a few moments, then slid it to the on position. Once I got the familiar beep signaling everything was good, I fully laid back on my bed and relaxed my muscles.

"Link start"

I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling fan momentarily as I got used to the world of GGO again. Your character is always sluggish for a bit once you log in, so it's usually best to wait in town for a few minutes before heading out, some defect the amosphere suffered from, but it was promised there was soon going to be a software update to fix this.

I stretched out my arms, legs, and back before turning sideways and placing my boots on the floor. I hadn't taken off my combat gear. I opened up my menu and tapped on the "appearance" selection and quickly equipped the gear labeled as "casual wear".

It wasn't that different from my combat gear, and kept the same color scheme. They were simple black jeans along with a green winter coat with a simple pink shirt under it, along with my white scarf.

After equipping that, I checked my messages and not surprisingly France had messaged me.

'Something rather bad is going down, meet me at Geiger Counter'

Geiger Counter was one of the many bars in SBC Glocken, except this one was player ran. The purpose of bars and restaurants in GGO is supposed to be to help players regain stamina that is lost after a long firefight, and to keep from getting sick, because that is a feature this game has.

I closed my menu and stood up from my bed. After locking up my house, I proceeded to walk towards the Downtown District, which had all the big buildings and shops and what not. I looked up at the sky as I was walking, and admired the clouds the developers had made. Contrary to the usual orange brown color they had, they were a darker grey today. Perhaps it would rain.

GGO keeps up with real life seasons, and since it was winter, it wouldn't be that surprising if it rained. Although it didn't rain that much in Japan during the winter, GGO was on an American server, so it rained quite often during the winter, at least that's what I'm told.

Before long I was passing by more and more people, and the streets were getting more crowded. I came around the final corner and saw the large neon sign with the bar's name on it. I opened the doors and heard the electronic, royalty free music GGO provided, playing over the speakers, along with the chatter of other players and the clinking of metallic forks to ceramic plates, and MMO Today was streaming on the holovision widescreens located in various locations of the bar. I looked around before my eyes landed on the person I was looking for. I walked over to him and took a seat at the bar directly next to him.

"Hey" France said

"Hey"

I quickly looked him over. Like me, he too had casual wear. It was a simple brown leather jacket that looked worn down, along with worn down blue jeans and a plain black hoodie under the former that he wore the hood of. His messy jet black hair parted to the right and covered the majority of his forehead and some of his right eye.

"You said something was going down?"

He finished the drink he had ordered

"Yeah…remember that merchant Ginrou killed when we assaulted that caravan?"

I nodded

"Well you see"

The bartender came up to me, and France ceased talking

"Sinon! Long time no see" the friendly voice of the man said

"That it has Tsume"

We both bumped knuckles

He then looked at France "Nice to see you too France"

France simply waved politely.

"So you want anything to drink, or eat? Or ya'll just come her to take up space as usual?"

I grinned. We did often come her to discuss different matter, and tended to walk out without buying a single thing

"Let's go with the former this time, to keep you happy" France answered

"Alright, what would you like?"

"Get me another one of these" he gestured at his empty glass. He then looked at me "You want anything Sinon?"

"I'll just have some tea please"

Tsume nodded, grabbed France's glass, and disappeared into the back

"Anyway" France spoke "Our problem. That merchant had more money and knows more people than we thought. And he's hired one of the best mercenaries in the business to kill us…all of us"

I stopped a moment to think before I formed a response. France seemed to have legitimate concern for this person, if he needed to call me here to tell me about this guy, that means he's tough, really tough, especially since France, winner of the first Bullet of Bullets and notoriously known for not giving a damn, was concerned.

"Must be pretty tough if he's got you riled up"

Tsume came with our drinks and set them down in front of us, I thanked him and he walked off

"He is. Very. His name is Rizzy" I began to drink from my tea "He's an ex member of Red Inc."

I nearly choked on my tea for the second time today. Why did it have to be Red Inc., any battalion but them. Red Inc., when it was still around, was the top mercenary guild in the game. They're very distinguishable all black armor with a red "R" painted somewhere on the chest plate making all the more notorious, and intimidating. The only battalion that could rival them was Raven Co. We had run into them once, and it didn't go well at all.

There were ten of them, and seven of us, but we were used to being slightly outnumbered, as most often our skill made up for our missing two or three other players. This however, was not the case.

The caravan we were after was from Badger Co., the biggest live ammo gun merchant company in the game, so it was an opportunity not to pass up. I don't know why we expected such a little defense from such a big name, but we tried it anyway.

They were moving through the canyon that's not too far off from the city district in the desert, heading south east towards SBC Glocken. With me positioned at the top of the ridge, France and Arashi coming out that from the front, and everyone else from the back, it seemed like a pretty solid plan.

As usual, Dyne spoke over coms to me "Fire when ready"

Right before I took the shot, France spook frantically "Shit these guys are red, don't take it don't take it!" It was too late.

The bullet was already speeding towards my first target.

'Red' I said in my head 'What does that mean?'

Right before the .50 caliber round connected with the target I had lined up, he sidestepped, dodging the bullet.

I could only stare in awe. There's no way he could've done that. I was only five hundred meters away, he'd have to realize the bullet is coming for him, decide what to do, and carry out that action in literally half a second.

"No way" I spoke softly to myself.

I then saw Dyne, along with Miso, Ginrou, and Jin, pushing from the back.

The mercenary group casually took fighting positions, with five in the back and five in the front.

Dyne and the others had to quickly take cover, as they were being suppressed by the five members hanging in the back.

One of the members in the front then dropped down, and was greeted by the death animation, following the slow and steady push from Arashi and France. They were side by side, slowly moving from each rock buried in the sand of the canyon while suppressing fire, keeping from any counteractions to happen on the mercs end.

Quickly, I disengaged my bipod and slung Hecate over my back, running down the ridge to aid France and Arashi's push.

By the time I had reached the two, they had already pushed the mercenaries farther back, and were still slowly progressing.

They were taking cover behind one of the rocks that collapsed due to a high explosive grenade, and I was soon to come up behind them.

"Well, pleasure to have your acquaintance miss Sinon" Arashi spoke in that sarcastic tone he always used

"Pleasure to be here mister Arashi"

I pulled my Glock from its holster and took aim

Three mercenaries peeked their head over the rocks they had taken cover behind, and the three of us immediately rained fire.

"We need to move up" France spoke "Or they might realize how defenseless we actually are at the moment"

"Good idea, but where else is there to move to? We can't rain fire while slowly moving forward like last time, we don't have the element of surprise anymore" Arashi questioned

"We can move to that wall" I gestured at the canyon wall that was somewhat dug into the side, which would provide us a place to momentarily take cover before we continued to move forward.

"Good idea, Arashi, throw a smoke" France ordered.

Immediately, Arashi threw his gun over his shoulder and reached into his coat, and after some searching, his hand reappeared with a smoke grenade

"Alright, wait for the cloud to puff up, then book it to the wall, got it?"

France and I both nodded

Arashi pulled the small silver ring from the grey cylinder and held it for a few seconds, letting the smoke puff out a few times before preparing to throw it.

All during that time France and I were suppressing fire so none of the mercs peeked over to see what our plan was.

After a few seconds, Arashi tossed the grenade towards the mercenaries, and waited for the grenade to really cloud up. Unfortunately, Arashi's throw had been a faulty one, and the grenade had landed a lot more to the right of the canyon then we had hoped, which gave the mercenaries a small but convenient line of sight to the far left, exposing the last few feet to the wall.

"Arashi, throw another" I ordered, but he shook his head.

"No time, just run, I'll cover you two"

Immediately, France took off next to me, running towards the canyon wall we had previously discussed. I heard the loud rounds of Arashi's DMR going off next to me, and the clattering of the shells hitting the rocky dirt shortly after.

I glanced at the smoke screen, and then looked at France, who had already reached the wall and was peeking around the rocky bulge, providing cover fire a long side Arashi. He looked at me and gestured to run.

"What are you waiting for?" I heard the rough voice of Arashi beside me "Go for it, I'm right behind you"

I nodded and began to sprint for the wall to join France.

When I passed the side of the smoke that was uncovered, it was like time began to slow down.

I looked to my right and saw two mercenaries peaking their heads up to look.

I pointed my Glock in the general direction of their heads and began to take shots, causing them to go back into cover.

After confirming they had resumed their original positions into cover, I looked forward and continued running towards France.

Once I had closed most of the distance, I slid behind a small rock next to the wall we had discussed, and France took aim over my head.

I looked over at Arashi, who was still suppressing fire, and had started to make his way towards us.

Once he was fully exposed from the rock he had taken cover behind, he turned and starting rapidly sprinting towards us.

When he was about half way, a figure appeared through the smoke behind him.

In one swift motion, he took aim and put a bullet in the back of Arashi's head.

His avatar quickly collapsed and was taken over by the death animation. The whole encounter happened so fast that I barely had time to react.

I had already raised my Glock to fire at the mercenary, but when I saw Arashi fall, I had lost focus.

By the time I had regained focus, there was already bullet lines on my body, and the AUG that the mercenary was carrying began flashing as the multiple 5.56 rounds sped towards me.

The rounds quickly tore through the light armor I had on, and knocked me on the ground. If your avatar sustains damage to certain areas, like your spinal cord, you become paralyzed for a maximum of three minutes, or until someone shoots you. This state of paralysis had taken over my avatar.

France quickly realized that me and Arashi were down, and opened fire on the mercenary that had just taken me down. The mercenary took cover behind the rock we were next to before moving to our current position, and France quickly changed to his forty round hollowpoint magazine, disengaged his hybrid scope, and took aim.

The mercenary threw a flash bang, and France quickly turned away and covered his face. Unfortunately, I was unable to do this.

There was a loud bang and my vision went completely white. I heard the sound of gunshots but it was too hard to make out who they belonged to through the loud ringing in my ears.

After what felt like hours, my vision came back to me, along with my hearing. Once I made sense of my surroundings, I focused on the now dead mercenary a few feet from me, and then at France, who was wounded, but alive.

How? I'd never seen France take a single bullet in all the time we've played together.

He had also gone through the entire magazine taking out that one person, as the action was back on his M21.

He disengaged the empty magazine and quickly inserted a new one. This was his last assault mag.

I heard fast approaching footsteps from around the bending wall of rock we were taking cover behind, and I saw two more mercenaries rush from around the bulge, one dual wielding Beretta 92s whereas the other had a highly modified M4.

The latter immediately began lighting up France who was quick to return fire. He managed to get a head shot off of the first few rounds, but not before taking a lot himself.

A round had gone into is left arm, causing his arm to fall limp in a similar state of paralysis I was in, so he reached into his Ghillie suit and pulled out his Desert Eagle.

He got one shot off before he was dropped by the second mercenary. He only shot once. Just one bullet, whilst dual wielding. And it wasn't from luck, he waited and timed his gun to line up with France's head at an exact moment, and blew him away. I was shocked.

France's body collapsed next to mine, and the death animation swept him away. The mercenary then began to slowly walk towards me in realization that I wasn't dead.

Every time he stepped towards me, it was like a sense of darkness got closer and closer. I couldn't and still can't explain it, but there was something off about this player, like he didn't belong, or like I'd seen him before.

By the time he was right on top of me, it was like a sense of time was lost, and everything stopped as he slowly raised his hand and pressed the barrel of the silver and black gun to my forehead, and applied three pounds of pressure to that metallic trigger.

There was a loud bang and then my entire screen went red, and the words "YOU ARE DEAD" in an even darker maroon color went across my screen.


End file.
